Accessory fastening for marine vessels



1943. B F. KEHRER 2,327,273

ACCESSORY FASTENING FOR MARINE VESSELS Filed Feb. 4, 1942 INVENTOR. 8

ATTORNEY 4 Patented Aug. 17, 1943 AGCESSORY'FASTENING l vnssnes: I

OFFICE Foam-name I e Bertram F. Kehrer,.S.eattle, Appiication- February 4, 1942, Serial No. 429,528 5. Claims. (01. 114-21 This invention relates toa" deck fastening for marine vessels;and'especially' to such a fasten ing as willzpermit of the ready attachment and detachment, at a selected point upon. the vessels deck; of accessory equipment. The "present invent-ion is expected to find its greatest. usefulness on pleasurecraftgand I mention, as oneofjmany pieces of accessory equipment to which the same lends itself; the depth-warning device illustrated and described in my co pendingapplication for Letters Patent of the United States filed April 21', 1941', Ser; No. 389,520.

It is a particular andprincipal object of my invention toqdevise structure for the above purpose which includes a standard marine cleat as the deck-secured anchoring element for another and complementing'member which is fixedly secured'to the accessory, the use of a cleat being of especial import in that it is a standard fitting for a pleasure craft, in consequence meeting the objection; which most yaohtsmen would have to the presence of any foreign fixture upon or about the deck, and also presenting a. general use fitting which can be employed for other purposes than that of anchoring the accessory piece during such periods as the latter is not in use and is stored within the cabin. It is a further and a particularobject of the invention to devise interconnecting fittings for the described purpose including, with the cleat, an'accesso'rycarried member so, designed as to permit the same to be easily fitted to the accessory for proper registration with the cleat without the necesvention consisting in the novel construction and in the adaptation and combination of parts hereinafter described and claimed. 7

In the drawing: Figure 1 is an end elevation illustrating the now preferred embodiment of the present invention with the parts in interconnected position, namely with the accessory-carried member hooked under the arms of the cleat, and representing the casing of the accessory fragmentarily. V

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal vertical section taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a top plan view of the assembly; and Fig. 4 is a fragmentary side elevational view illustrating the manner in which the accessory is tilted upwardly through an approximate angle about the arms of the cleat as a pivot for disengaging the hooking terminals of the accessory-carri'ed member from the arms of the cleat.

- As will be apparent from an inspection of said drawing, the'invention employs, as an anchoring member for the accessory, a standard marine cleat providing a base!) and having the upstanding neckl'from' which a pair of arms 8-6 ex-tendlaterally, the base being secured at a selected point on or about the deck of the craft by screws l0.

Indicated generally by H is the complementi'ng' accessory-carried member. Such member is formed from agenerally rectangular sheet metal blank of a width more or less corresponding to the fever-all spreadof the cleat, and has cuts extending longitudinally of the blank for the greater part of the sheets length to produce a central leg M lying in intervening relation between wing elements l2 and I3, the spacing betweenthe'wing elements being somewhat'in ex- 7 cess of the span of the neck portion 1 of the cleat. hese wing elements, which operate to perform ahooking function, are turned. outwardly at' their point of ,juncture with the root part of the blank and have their outer extremities cupped as at I 2." and [3' to an imbricate form arranged to snugly fit a respective arm of the"cleat'infsaddling relation to the underside of the -latter.

The member l is secured to the end wall w of the accessory casing through the instrumentality of screws I 5, and it will be clear from the drawingthat a proper location of the member upon the accessory is such as will obtain a footing engagement of the accessory with the gunwale, cabin roof, or the deck of the vessel, as the case may be, coincident with a hooking of the wing parts I2 and [3' under the arms of the cleat. Otherwise stated, the member H is so placed as to obtain substantial correspondence between the spacing of the hooking terminals above the footing plane of the accessory casing and the spacing of the arms 8 and 8' above the footing plane of the cleat. It is to facilitate such mounting that I employ the central leg l4, using such as a gauge means by bending its free end forwardly at substantially right angles to the general plane of the blank at a measured distance from the bend line of the wings and mortising said forward bend in the bottom wall of the casing.

The invention and the manner of its usage should be clear from the foregoing description taken with the illustration of my now preferred embodiment. Neither such illustration nor the description are, however; intended to imply any limitations other than as such, a necessary restriction to distinguish from previous practice in the art of attaching accessory equipment to a marine vessel, are brought into the language of the hereto annexed claims.

What I claim, is: V

1. As a fitting for a marine vessel, attachment devices for mounting accessory equipment in which the equipment is arranged to find footing engagement upon a plane surface, and consist ing of th combination of an anchoring member comprised of a standard marine cleat having a base part adapted to be secured upon said footing surface and presenting an upstanding neck and paired arms projecting laterally from opposite sides of the neck; and a complementary member detachably associated with the cleat providing a mounting plate arranged to be fixed to an end wall of the accessory piece and having a pair of wing elements extending outwardly from the mounting plate and functioning to perform a hooking function relative to the arms of the cleat, said .wing elements being spaced apart a distance generally corresponding to the span of the neck part of the cleat and being each cupped to a shape snugly fitting a respective arm of the cleat in saddling' relation to the undersideof the latter. a a

2. A marine fitting according to claim 1 in which the accessory-carried member is stamped from a sheet metal blank and provides, as a means .for locating the mounting plate upon the end wall or" the accessory, a gauge arm lying between the wing element and extending downwardly from the mountin late as a pendant leg thereof with its free end turned forwardly for mortising in the footing wall of the accessory,

3 As a fitting for a marine vessel, attachment devices for mounting accessor equipment in which the equipment is arranged'to find footing engagement upon a plane surfaceQand consisting of thecombination of an anchoring member comprised of a standard marine cleat having a base part adapted to be secured upon said footing surface and presenting an upstandingneck and paired arm projecting laterally from opposite sides of the neck; and a complementary meming a mounting plate arranged to be fixed to the accessory piece and having outwardly projecting integral Wing elements functioning to perform a hooking function relative to the arms of the cleat, said wing elements being spaced apart a distance generally corresponding to the span of the neck part of the cleat and being each terminally cupped to a shape snugly fitting a respective arm of the cleat in saddling relation to the underside of the latter.

4. In combination with a standard marine cleat adapted to be secured upon a vessel, the cleat providing an upstanding neck and paired arms ber detachably associated with the cleat providprojecting laterally from opposite sides of the neck; an accessory-carried fitting arranged to perform a hooking function with the cleat for detachably mounting the accessory upon the ves sel, said fitting comprising a sheet metal body of a general L shape in edge elevation of which the horizontal leg of the L performs th hooking function of the fitting and is of a bifurcate form to straddle the neck partof the cleat with each of its two branches being terminally cupped to a shape snugly fitting the arms of the cleat in saddling relation to' the underside of the same, the perpendicular leg of the L being pierced for the reception of screws for attaching the fitting to an end wall of the accessory locating the hooking terminals of the horizontal leg-in functional relation to the cleat.

5. As a fitting for a marine vessel, attachment devices for mounting accessory equipment and consisting of the combination of an anchoring member comprised of a standard marine cleat having a base part adapted to be secured upon the vessel and presenting an upstanding neck and paired arms projecting laterally from opposite sides of the neck; and a' complementary member detachably associated with the cleat providing a mounting plate arranged to be fixed to'the accessory piece and having outwardly projecting integral wing elements functioning to perform a hooking function relative to the arms of thevcleat, said Wing elements being spaced apart a distance generally corresponding to the span of the neck part of the cleat and being each terminally cupped to a shape snugly fitting a respective arm of the cleat in saddling relation to the underside of the latter.

BERTRAM F.- KEHRER. 

